Introduction

The UK Agricuture website highlights the following:"In the UK, apparent government indifference towards the productivity of domestic agriculture has seen self-sufficiency (the proportion of demand met by local production) in all foods drop to just 58% by 2006. The Government argues that self-sufficiency is a misleading concept in relation to food security and that the UK can import the foodstuffs it requires. However this argument is dangerous on two counts.Food security is a function of self-sufficiency. The higher a country’s self sufficiency, the lower the likelihood that its food security will be compromised. All of which argues for strong domestic production and reinforces the importance of agriculture to the UK."